Kiss and Make Up
by tsutsuji
Summary: After Yuuri and Murata unexpectedly return to Shin Makoku, Yozak and Murata have to decide whether to pick up where they left off or start back at square one. yaoi, Yozak/Murata.


**Title: Kiss and Make Up**  
Author: Tsutsuji  
Rating: T, safe for teens (sorry it's not higher)  
Warnings: none, really (sorry again)  
Written for springkink, Prompt: Yozak/Murata: UST - carried by the momentum  
Word count: about 1700  
Summary: After Murata's and Yuuri's unexpected return to Shin Makoku, Murata and Yozak have to decide whether to pick up where they left off or start over again  
A/N: Takes place right after the end of Season 2.

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Yozak was just as glad and relieved as everyone else in Shin Makoku (well, _almost_ everyone else) when he heard that Yuuri-heika had returned unexpectedly after the defeat of Shoushu. He was visiting Dan Hiri's grave when he felt the wind change and then heard the rumor, and by the time he got back to Blood Pledge Castle, the place was already back to buzzing with the crazy kind of warmth it only had when Yuuri was around.

That was all fine and good, but it took Yozak almost two days to find a moment alone with the person he most wanted to see. When he finally did, it was in almost the last place in the castle that he thought to look.

"Aha, didn't expect to find you here, Geika," he said as he picked a path across the conservatory. It was a little like trekking through a jungle - a small, indoor jungle, where Lady Celi's hybrid flower experiments jostled for space with exotic plant specimens and even more exotic artifacts that previous Maous had brought back from their journeys. Lady Celi was away on one of her journeys as usual, and nobody else came in here very often; even the maids were leery of some of those foreign artifacts.

That made it a perfect place for someone who wanted to get away from the swirl of activity and minor chaos that always surrounded the Maou. Sure enough, there was Murata, sitting on a window seat with a book in his hand, half hidden by gigantic palm fronds.

"Hope I'm not interrupting?" Yozak asked as he came over and leaned an arm on the window casing. Actually, he was hoping Murata had expected to be found by a certain persistent and clever spy, but on the other hand, he didn't like to assume anything, these days.

"If you'd rather be alone, I'll leave..."

Murata put a marker in the book he'd been reading and set it down on a table near the window seat, then turned to look up at Yozak. The light from the vine-covered window behind him glinted off his glasses, but that didn't entirely hide the sparkle in his dark eyes.

"That would be disappointing," he said, "after I came all the way out here just to get away from everyone else!"

_Everyone __else__?_ Yozak wondered. That sounded hopeful. Maybe he wasn't assuming too much, at that.

Murata sidled over, leaving room for Yozak to sit beside him. Barely enough room, in fact; as Murata half turned and sat back against the corner, his knee prodded Yozak's thigh. Yozak didn't quite dare assume that was on purpose, either.

Relief at seeing Murata again had turned into frustration over the last two days, because since the Maou and the Sage had returned from Earth, Murata was always by Yuuri's side, and Yuuri was always the center of attention. Yozak had a better excuse than some to keep an eye on both of them, but until now, only from a distance.

After thinking he'd never see the Sage again and then suddenly finding him here again after all, a safe distance was not close enough. Not anywhere near close enough, he thought, considering how close they'd gotten a few times back before that last Box had been found.

In fact, they'd been as close as two people could get. Then suddenly, right after that damn Box came back from the other world, Murata had grown distant and slipped from his grasp, stepping back into the gathering shadow that had nearly overtaken all of them. And just when the shadow had lifted again for good, dispelled by brilliant sun of the Maou, then the lover Yozak had barely gotten used to having had slipped away, out of reach completely this time - apparently forever.

He'd had plenty of time afterward to wonder if the earlier part was real, and to decide that it was; the rest had only been necessity, the duty of the Great Sage that Murata was left to carry out on his own. It was Murata Ken, not Daikenja, that Yozak had grown close to before duty and the shadow overtook him, and it was definitely Murata Ken's voice and skin and eyes and breath that he remembered and missed so sharply after he was gone.

Now, with Murata suddenly so near and smiling again, and with those deep, dark eyes gazing up at him, the urge to just reach over and grab the kid and kiss him until they were both gasping for breath was nearly overwhelming. He just wasn't quite sure yet if Murata had reached the same conclusions as he had about what was real and what wasn't.

He was just about to gave in to that urge anyway, when Murata stopped him in his tracks.

"I came through the portrait hall on my way here," the Sage said lightly.

He was smiling as widely as ever, but Yozak winced. Instead of reaching for Murata, he reached up and rubbed the back of his own head in embarrassment.

"Ee-yeah," he said, grinning crookedly. "You saw that, did you?"

The slashed and patched portraits of the Original King and the Great Sage had not yet been replaced. Wolfram had finally declared that he was _much_ too busy to recreate them himself, and a professional portrait painter had been commissioned to create new, exact replicas. Meanwhile, Yozak's handiwork was still on display in the portrait hall for all to see.

"You must have been really furious at me!" Murata said cheerfully, but the smiling mask slipped a little.

Yozak knew all about masks. That was one of the first things they knew they had in common, back when a lively, blue-eyed blond kid from another world had first met an old codger with a sheep's-wool hairdo. Right through that smile, he could see the cautious hesitation as Murata tipped his head to look up at him.

"I hope you're not still quite that angry, are you?" Murata asked, still grinning, as if it was the most casual question in the world.

" 'Course not, Geika!" Yozak answered. "You did what you had to do; everyone knows that now. It's just that, well," he continued awkwardly, wincing again. "When it looked like you'd betrayed us all, I might have taken it just a _little_ bit, well... personally. But once I realized... " he shook his head emphatically. "No. I'm not mad at all. Don't even think it!"

Murata's relief was quickly hidden behind a smile again - a real one this time, Yozak was certain. But then he stood up, stepping just out of reach again, and Yozak watched with fingers twitching and mouth almost watering as the young Sage stretched, like a small black cat disturbed from his afternoon meditation.

"That's good!" Murata said. He turned around to face Yozak, stepping closer again, so close that one leg barely nudging Yozak's knee. "I'm glad. After all, I'd hate to have to start all over again!"

A little confused, as much by the (possibly accidental) contact as the words, Yozak fought back against the renewed urge to pull Murata closer, gripping the edge of the seat so hard he thought the wood might crack.

"Eh? Start what all over again?" he asked cautiously.

Eyes sparkling behind glinting lenses, Murata sidled a little closer, nudging his way in between Yozak's legs. He leaned forward so they were eye to eye and put his hands on Yozak's thighs, just above his knees.

"Seducing you, of course," Murata said. "It took me long enough the first time!"

Yozak nearly stopped breathing. The touch sent a current of heat right up to his groin; the words were even hotter. It was a wonderfully familiar kind of shock; the enigmatic teenage sage had indeed managed to both surprise and seduce him almost from the first moment they met.

His breath finally came out in a rush when Murata finally reached for him first, after all, and pulled him close. Yozak pressed his face against the high collar of the Sage's uniform jacket, happily breathing in the welcome, familiar scent of him. Murata clutched one hand over Yozak's chest and hooked the other arm around his neck, and sighed like he was ready to melt.

"Um-mm," Yozak said, nearly groaning as the smaller body settled into his arms. "I think we can just pick up right where we left off, Geika. Be a shame to lose the momentum we had going before, you know..."

Murata giggled The puff of breath on his hair sent a warm shiver down Yozak's spine.

"That's true. I'd made so much progress!"

They had made excellent progress, Yozak remembered. Right up until that last Box came back from the other world, and then the next thing Yozak knew, Murata was diving into a whirlpool of light and out of his world...

"Damn it, Highness," Yozak sighed, "You didn't even say goodbye!"

"I know," Murata said softly, his lips nuzzling Yozak's hair. "I'm sorry. There wasn't time, I thought. And anyway... I remember so many goodbyes... I've never been any good at them."

Yozak pulled him back to look him in the face. Murata's cheeks were flushed; he already looked tousled and seductive, but his mouth was turned down in a sad little frown, full of more memories than a boy his age should have. Yozak lifted his chin and caught his eye.

"I suppose it's not something that gets easier with lifetimes of practice," he said sympathetically. "But you know, even a bad goodbye is better than none at all."

Murata nodded.

"I guess you're right," he admitted, his voice still full of old, old regrets. But then his gaze locked onto Yozak's mouth as he smiled again. "But, fortunately, even I underestimated Shibuya this time! So now that I'm back after all, I guess I'll just have to make up for not saying goodbye with a really _rousing_ hello, won't I?" he said.

The seductive gleam was back in his eyes, banishing the past again, but Yozak lost sight of it a second later when Murata grabbed him and pulled him into a very unapologetic kiss.

"Now, where did we leave off?" Murata murmured a minute or so later.

As breathless as he was, Yozak managed to chuckle in his ear, delighted to feel him shiver in response to that - or maybe it was more to do with where Yozak's hands had wandered during that kiss.

"Right about... here!" he said, and proceeded to carry on as if they'd never stopped at all.

~~ end ~~

(except possibly not, because I might still be working on the extended, smutty version, if I get around to it)


End file.
